Page 24 (1/2)

"Two meals" She turned her head and winced as he injected her "I can never e snack" He pressed a cotton ball to tiny wound the needle had left in her skin and bent her arm up to hold it "Jem, I know this is hard on you, and your s easier, but I can’t wave a oing into insulin shock"

Insulin shock had put her into a coma once for a week, an experience Jee snack" When he would have risen from the bed, she touched his arm "Dr Bradford, can I ask you a really personal question?"

"With as many as I’ve asked you all these years?" He chuckled "Fire away"

"Why did you come here to live with us?"

He looked puzzled "Because Meryl hired me to; you know that"

"No, that’s not what I mean" She wasn’t sure what she meant "Didn’t you ever want to set up your own practice, or get married, or not be around my mother for a few decades?"

"Ah, I see" He took her hand in his "I’ll tell you a secret about s once upon a tireat wife, and I only saw your mother in the newspaper She’s much nicer in print, by the way" His smile drooped a little "I don’t kno to put this any other way but the truth I made a mistake with a patient, Jeot sued My second mistake was that I tried to cover it up They let me keep my license, but they took my house and my practice, and as left my wife took in the divorce"

He had never spoken of any of this to her "I’m so sorry, Dr Bradford I shouldn’t have asked you--"

"This was long before you were born, Jem You weren’t even a twinkle in your parents’ eyes I got work as a doctor for a private home health care service A few years later your father hired me to examine your mother when she was flown back to the States It was a couple of weeks before his accident in Greece"

"I think I was only a month old," Je Jao back to Greece and close off the dig" His gaze grew distant "Meryl was just beginning to i that your father had been killed She was so distraught after that, I thought I ht lose her Then there were all the proble; by then I knew you were diabetic You both needed full-tiuessed

"Actually, I refused the job twice I was afraid I ain and hurt one of you" He sed my mind Your mother couldn’t take proper care of you, naturally, and with your condition a nanny wasn’t enough You were such a pretty baby, and so good" He reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her cheek "Even when you were deathly sick, you hardly ever cried I wish James could have had more time with you"

Jema had always considered Daniel Bradford rather like a kind if soht home how much she and her rateful for everything you’ve done for me and Mother"

"Thank you" He looked oddly ashamed "I hope he would feel that way I could never fill James’s shoes, Je I’m sort of the man of the house here" He bent over and kissed her forehead "Now, get soic I’ll see you at breakfast Bring some appetite" He ruirl, picked up his case, and left

Another reason for Je Asian murder victim Detective Newberry had obtained approval to send it to her colleague, Dr Sophie Tucker Sophie had called her when she had finished testing the specimen, but she couldn’t identify the source

"I’ve ruled out every breed of dog, cat, and domesticated mammal in North A samples out to faunal experts I know in Europe, South A to be a week, teeks maybe, Jema"

Detective Newberry hadn’t been very receptive to the news either, and when Je a sample to the FBI "I don’t have time to sit on my hands while these experts scratch their heads, Miss Shaw You understand"